Mead calls broadband access the new 'railroad', hopes will spur growth and connectivity

Governor Matt Mead says the future is bright for technology in Wyoming. At the first Wyoming Broadband Summit in Cheyenne today, Mead highlighted recent progress in improving Internet access across the state. In 2011, access to high speed downloads grew from 54-percent to 85-percent of the population, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Federal Communications Commission. The National Center for Atmospheric Research also recently opened a center near Cheyenne that houses one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers. Mead called broadband access a great equalizer among Wyoming’s dispersed population. “We don’t know where the next place is gonna grow. We don’t know where the next great idea is gonna come from. But we know if they have that broadband, if they have that connectivity and they can reach a global market… with their minds, with their vision, who knows what the future will bring for themselves and for the state?” Mead says he is working to help give fiber optic companies rights of way along existing highways in Wyoming to help in their efforts to expand infrastructure in Wyoming.